GTA San andreas PC (slow gameplay)

Mouth for war · Sun 22/04/2007 22:00:01

Ok so i installed GTA San andreas and the recommended system requirements are
Intel Pentuim 4 or AMD XP Processor (or better)
384MB RAM
16x Speed DVD Drive
4.7GB Hard Drive Space
128MB Video Card
DirectX 9 compatible sound & video drivers
Keyboard, mouse or game pad

My computer is a Intel Pentium P4 2.4 ghz
512 mb Ram
128 mb radeon 9200 graphics card
Direct x9 installed
still the gameplay is incredibly slow...when the game begins it runs ok but as soon cars etc starts to show up on screen the game runs in slow motion...anyone know what might be the problem? I've chosen everything i can in the gameoptions as well...I totally suck when it comes to computers hehe

Domino · Sun 22/04/2007 22:02:09

Just buy it for the PS2 or Xbox. Problem solved.

Mouth for war · Sun 22/04/2007 22:05:22

haha yeah I would BUT...I don't have my ps2 or xbox anymore hehe...I gave away the XBOX to my friend for his 30:th birthday and i had to sell my PS2 because i was extremely low on cash

LimpingFish · Sun 22/04/2007 22:06:22

I would hazard a guess at...

You graphics card.

What resolution are you running it at? Anything above 1024x768 on that spec graphics card will, most likely, result in slowdowm.

Damien · Sun 22/04/2007 22:10:04

Also, it could be the sound options (EAX). The mixing of multiple sounds caused slowdowns on my comp., otherwise the game ran fine (we have pretty much the same configuration, my CPU is 1.7Ghz).

Mouth for war · Sun 22/04/2007 22:15:44

I tried it at 640 * 480 but still slowmotion...i guess i have to buy a new graphics card...damn

LimpingFish · Sun 22/04/2007 22:20:41

The best thing to do is to run it with everything turned down low, graphics and sound options, and slowly increase things until performance begins to suffer.

Mouth for war · Sun 22/04/2007 22:23:25

yup tried that too...still nothing...must be that graphics card...radeon 9200 is quite old now isn't it?

Damien · Sun 22/04/2007 22:54:49

It shouldn't be the graphics card, my configuration is:

Athlon 1700
512MBRam
Radeon 9000 Pro 128MBVram

and the game runs fine in 1024x768 mid-high details.

Could it be:
-some windows process using up the resources?
-windows installation got screwed up (defragment, clean the registry, etc.)?
-a virus?
-old drivers?

Evil · Mon 23/04/2007 00:16:54

Well, I'd suggest running a virus scan and then closing some programs that suck up RAM, media programs and instant messaging, then try playing again with the view distance about half. I used to have the same problem, it wasn't that the game ran slow, but the models didn't load fast enough.

Nostradamus · Mon 23/04/2007 07:53:49

Well in such graphic heavy games running them with the minimum requirements like yourself is always gonna be cruddy.
The best thing you can do is turn to lowest settings some graphical options. especially shading, reflections and such and even detail if still necessary. The more settings you turn down the faster and clearer it will run (but yeah it wouldn't look as nice).
Also if that doesn't work you can download the latest drivers for your graphics card from ATI website (callest Catalyst in ATI).
In any case, unrelated to the game even, you should upgrade your RAM to 1GB. Also you must make sure your Virtual Memory is set to 1.5 times your RAM minimum and 3 times your RAM maximum (in your currnet condition 767 minimum and 1533 maximum).
See the card is supposed to do most of its work on its own RAM but since it has low RAM for this game it's probable it may need to use your regular RAM and your regular RAM must have sufficient virtual memory (stored on the HDD) to throw the low priority stuff on it and be able to store the most importnant stuff in it.
All of the above can improve the situation somewhat but bottom line, remember that 128MB graphics cards aren't really great with new racing games. I know this cos I have the same card. If all of the above doesn't help and what you intend to do with your PC is play latest racing games and such then you need to buy a PCIe graphics card if you have the slot and if not a better AGP card.

Chicky · Mon 23/04/2007 16:12:05

Why not ask on a forum which isn't devoted to adventure gaming? IGN? Gamespot? Gamefaqs? Hell even the official gta forum?

Nostradamus · Mon 23/04/2007 19:30:00

True, but it's not a specific problem for him with that specific game, it's a common problem when trying to run advanced 3d games on an insuffecient (/"minimum") hardware configuration. If at all it should be on a tech board, not a gaming board like IGN or the others. I have answered him fully though.

Damien · Mon 23/04/2007 22:19:51

Quoteit's a common problem when trying to run advanced 3d games on an insuffecient (/"minimum") hardware configuration.

Except that is not the case here.

Nostradamus · Tue 24/04/2007 08:13:34

Quote from: Damien on Mon 23/04/2007 22:19:51
Quoteit's a common problem when trying to run advanced 3d games on an insuffecient (/"minimum") hardware configuration.
Except that is not the case here.

Except that IT IS.
I know this from experience with such games and from knowledge of PCs. In such games the minimum requirements such as the hardware he has don't allow you to run the game smoothly, it just allows you to run it.
And in order to get an acceptable gameplay you have to turn most options to lowest.
I didn't see YOU offer the guy any advice so don't act smart when you don't have any answers.

scotch · Tue 24/04/2007 08:29:05

It's actually not the case here, his system is plenty powerful enough to run San Andreas on medium to high settings. Note that he did post the recommended specs, rather than the required ones.

The minimum specs are
1GHz Pentuim III or AMD Athlon
256MB RAM
8x Speed DVD Drive
3.6 GB Hard Disk Space
64MB Video Card

It's is a port from PS2, and quite playable on low end stuff like a Geforce 2 in my experience. His system is about the same as mine was, and I played at 1024x786, but with the shaders off and textures on high. I don't know what the problem is though. The degrading performance as the game goes on points to some not specs related issue which we'll probably not be able to guess.

Do try turning the shader settings off if you haven't. The shading comes in now and then such as on hot days when there's heat shimmer above the roads. That can be a framerate killer on cards that aren't good at shaders. Sounds like you have a more severe problem than that, but it's worth a try.

evenwolf · Tue 24/04/2007 08:52:18

Quote from: Chicky on Mon 23/04/2007 16:12:05
Why not ask on a forum which isn't devoted to adventure gaming? IGN? Gamespot? Gamefaqs? Hell even the official gta forum?

I noticed that he posted this in the general forum, which actually has nothing to with adventure games (by sheer implication!) Silly to think that his community (which is full of all sorts of tech savvy people) wouldn't be able to help him.

Nostradamus · Tue 24/04/2007 13:24:12

Quote from: scotch on Tue 24/04/2007 08:29:05
It's actually not the case here, his system is plenty powerful enough to run San Andreas on medium to high settings. Note that he did post the recommended specs, rather than the required ones.

Oh... my bad. I thought I read he had the minimum requirements. You're right about that then.
However the problems he's telling about still point to memory performance and so my advice up there is still valid.

Damien · Tue 24/04/2007 17:43:50

QuoteI didn't see YOU offer the guy any advice so don't act smart when you don't have any answers.

Please look again.

Mouth, could you post screenshots of your running processes from the task manager?
Here's how you do it:
-press ctrl+alt+delete
-click on the processes tab
-resize the window so the whole list is visible
-press prt sc (print screen) on your keyboard
-open up your image editing program and click edit>paste
-post the image here like you would with your background/sprite art
-also you could take a screenshot of the performance tab
BTW, sorry if you already knew how to do this.